


recorded

by chikkipoh



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Bromance, Felix's Freckles, Fluff, Gay Panic, Lee Minho | Lee Know is Whipped, Love Confessions, M/M, Searching for Someone, Seo Changbin is Whipped, They're All Gay, They're hormonal teenagers so swearing, altered ages, changbin is feral, hyunjin is a huge gossip, i might add some other tags another time onfi, i wrote this half drunk so idk man, please bare with me :), so is chan but he's still happy, voice recorder, woojin is tired
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:53:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24643636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chikkipoh/pseuds/chikkipoh
Summary: Lee Minho, while reviewing for his upcoming exams, receives a recorder out of nowhere from a mysterious confessor who proclaimed their oh so eternal love in the said device. Chan thought it was smooth. Minho thought that the person was a coward and decided that he would not lose in the game of hide and seek.
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Lee Felix/Seo Changbin
Comments: 2
Kudos: 30





	1. the recorder, the confession, the headache

**Author's Note:**

> this work does not, in any way, portray the boys in real life. this was just me thinking what ifs and that stuff. do not take this too seriously if ya know what i mean ?
> 
> not really edited so i am very sorry if there are some incoherent words thrown in there somewhere
> 
> feast your eyes?? i guess???

The quiet that the small cafe offered did wonders to Minho. Accompanied by great music and amazing food, Minho's brain was at peace and easily took in the scrawl which was his notes. He was pretty sure he would pass the exams next week. If he went with Changbin standards then he would, for the lack of words, pass with flying colours . That was enough to satiate him.

He happily hummed along to the songs.

Checking the corner of his laptop, Minho realized it was already three past noon. His mouth turned down into a frown. What the hell was Chan doing? Thirty minutes had already passed and Minho already ordered another set of pastries since the guy went to the bathroom. If he was not going to come out sooner, he would not hesitate to drink the cold cup of tea Chan ordered. He scrunched his face at the thought. Actually, cold tea does not sound appetizing at all. He went back to studying, opting to ignore Chan's absence not for the first time but hopefully for the last time.

Minutes ticked by, the letters on his handwritten reviewer slowly ingraining themselves on his mind. He was so in the zone that when the buzzer started vibrating, he was startled. It took him quite a few seconds to process that the buzzing meant that his order was ready but he was quickly on his feet, stumbling through tables to get to the counter. 

"Hey," He said at the person over the counter, who, strangely, had his eyes glued onto something behind him. When the worker did not show any hint at noticing him, he raised the blinking buzzer in his hands. That finally got the attention of the worker. 

_Slacker_ , Minho thought irritably.

"Ah, sorry!"

Minho, despite wanting to scold the worker, smiled. "It's okay. Um, here," He handed over the buzzer in exchange for his order. It didn't escape him that the worker's attention shuffled between him and whatever was behind him. He resisted rolling his eyes. "Thanks."

"Ah . . . yeah, sure."

Minho turned around before the worker could see his huge puff of breath. He was about to make his way back to his seat when the worker behind yelped - it was loud enough for Minho to halt in his steps and glance behind him in suspiciously.

The worker's eyes were wide and his hands were covering his mouth. What gained that expression? Probably the thing he kept on ogling while he was supposed to serve Minho.

Minho didn't hide his exasperation as he shook his head. He was halfway on walking once again when the worker's eyes darted once again on him. Seriously , what the hell is up with this guy? Minho's blood boiled.

He smiled through gritted teeth. "Excuse me, is there a problem?"

He just wanted to go sit down and continue his review while eating his delicious cakes but this guy over here just wanted to make everyone suffer because of some drama he probably tapped on. He didn’t want to be that kind of customer who pulled out the manager with one mistake yet this guy was pushing Inner Karen out of him. Just what he needed. Really.

The worker opened and closed his mouth like a fish. All Minho could think was: _asshole_.

"I...um...nothing. 'S nothing." Minho squinted at the worker's obvious lie as the guy shuffled and scratched at his cheek. "Sorry for bothering you,"

His right eye was twitching. The grip on the tray that he was holding got tighter to the point that his fingers started to feel numb and disconnected. Maybe he was being impatient and irritable but holy shit this guy was pushing all the right buttons for him to sue the whole management. 

"Alright." Minho said, nodding as if understanding wholeheartedly while, in fact, he was far from being understanding. He was actually nearer to going against several laws.

With a new searing heat inside him, Minho went back to his booth and almost shoved the tray down.

" _’S nothing_ ,'" He mocked underneath his breath. Plopping on the cushioned seat, he glared at the plates of cakes in front of him. " _'I'm sorry for bothering you'_ my ass."

His happy mood had lasted while it could. Damn that stupid ass.

He continued reviewing though less enthusiastic than before. Chan hadn't shown up yet and Minho's patience was burning out; he felt like he could scream at a child at that point. But with years of restraint, he sat through it. Amazingly.

A couple of minutes had passed when his head snapped up to see Chan. Once Chan sat in front of him, Minho opened his mouth with narrowed eyes. 

"Where the hell have you been?"

One of Chan's grins was plastered on. He looked like a complete idiot with his constant grinning. It sometimes unnerved Minho because he would look like a madman, but at the moment, he was unnerved with displeasure. Chan did not answer. He just went on grinning like the clown he was.

"Hey, I asked where the hell have you been? And why the hell are you all happy-go-lucky? I mean, more than usual anyway,"

Chan sighed dreamily. "Oh you won't guess Min - wait, what's that?" His eyes were stuck on either Minho's stack of paper or something beneath it.

Minho clicked his tongue and ruffled through the papers, not in the mood to exhaust himself on arguing anymore. He was about to snap that nothing was there when his hand brushed against something hard. It took him by surprise. He looked up to see Chan still staring at the thing so he brought it out to take a good look at it.

Minho squinted his eyes at the object.

Is it a -

"A voice recorder?!" 

Chan exclaimed a little too loudly for Minho's tastes. Like a greedy child, Chan's hands took the recorder from Minho, and he studied it from all angles, leaving Minho's thoughts for himself.

Was that there since the start? Did he accidentally bring a recorder? No, no, he couldn't have, he was certain that there was no recorder at his house. He remembered his mom chucking out all that stuff into the garbage before. How did it get there? Maybe someone misplaced it. That was a big possibility, although it seemed a little bit skeptical for Minho. Who even had voice recorders these days?

He eyed the recorder warily. "Chan, I think it might belong to someone who left it so we shouldn't mess with it too mu-"

_"Lee Minho, I think I might have fallen for you."_

Both he and Chan gaped at the recorder. After a few beats, their eyes connected and Minho could physically feel Chan's bubbles of excitement.

This was going to be out of hand.

"Minhooo!" Chan threw himself across to grab a good chunk of Minho's shirt. He shook Minho wildly with an elated look on his face that he so badly wanted to wipe off if he could. Minho shot Chan a glare. Chan was unfazed by it. "Someone's finally fallen for you!"

"Why do you sound so surprised?"

Chan ultimately ignored him. "I can't believe it! After all these years, someone! Someone- "

"You're kind of making me sound like a loner."

"-likes you! I mean, people obviously liked you but who wouldn’t after seeing that ass?” Minho groaned and tried to sink into the ground when the table next to them shot them looks. Fucking hell. "But I mean! No one actually confessed! Minho!"

Chan beamed at him with crazed eyes. 

Minho clicked his tongue. He needed to go back to review; he didn't have time for these kinds of shenanigans. "What."

"This is the smoothest way of confessing I had ever seen!"

"Yeah, but there's no point because I don't even know they are." He huffed as he reorganized the papers he went through.

Honestly, if you're just going to confess, just say it face to face, no need for letters or messages or recordings because that just makes you a coward. It was useless if the receiver doesn't even have the faintest idea who they might be. The recorder just aggravated Minho.

"You sound like you're disappointed." Chan drawled, his grin replaced with his equally revolting smirk.

Minho cocked his head to the side. "Well, I am. Being creative isn't just enough for confessions, you should show yourself or even just identify yourself - that's the whole point of confessions!"

"Yeah, whatever - anyways! What're you gonna do with this?" Chan waved around the recorder. "And that voice was definitely a him , right?" 

Minho shrugged. Girl, boy - they were still cowards for hiding behind some half-assed recording.

Well, what Minho first thought was to just leave the recorder on the table. Maybe whoever the guy was would go back and pick it up and be content with what he had accomplished but that seemed to be both rude and cruel. He didn't like the way they conveyed their feelings but that did not give Minho the right to just straight out hurt the other by not responding properly. Perhaps a small note would be better? 

Thinking about this made Minho's head hurt.

"I think I'm gonna do this..." He ripped a piece of paper from his notebook and started jotting down what he deemed to be the correct response. "...Then done,"

" Ooh let me see!" Chan swiftly took the note and intently read it with his eyes. While he was doing that, Minho took that opportunity to assess the whole situation.

So, the one who was crushing on him was a creative (he must give him credit for the recorder - it was unexpected) coward. What bothered Minho was that the person knew where he was at the moment. Did they put it in Minho's bag last Friday and Minho accidentally brought a recorder over? Seemed unlikely. It was more likely that the person was stalking him or knew him well enough to know where his favorite cafe was. Which meant that they had to follow him there in the cafe and waited until both Chan and him were not on the table since neither of them saw who placed in on the table. That only happened when he stood up to get his order the last time. So that means...

They still might be in the cafe.

Minho abruptly stood from his seat, attracting Chan's attention. Their booth was at a corner so they could see everyone in the shop. He let his eyes swoop down on every face and observe if they were acting strangely or out of place but none of the customers seemed to give him any mind. Groaning, Minho slumped back down with crossed arms. He was pretty sure that confessions were not supposed to be this hard.

From the other side, Chan gave him an amused look which he retorted with a flick of his middle finger. That elicited a laugh from Chan and a scrunched face from Minho. It was annoying that Chan was so used to Minho.

Chan's mouth opened and Minho just knew that what he was gonna say was no good so he cut him off with a not-so-good natured shut up .

Chan shrugged but spoke anyway. "Alright. But what's up with this?" He slid back the piece of note to Minho.

Minho looked down at his writing then back up to Chan with confusion. "What's wrong with it?"

"' _Whoever you are_ ," Chan started, his voice oddly sounding like a butler from those British movies. " _I appreciate your feelings even though I cannot reciprocate them. At the moment, I am solely focusing on my studies so I don’t have time for these kinds of things. I hope you understand, signed Lee Minho'_."

Minho grinned proudly. "I think it sounds great."

"I think it sounds like a freaking essay! Dude, what even is this? Just not say anything at all 'cause this doesn't even sound like you wanted to write him a response back but you were just pushed against your will!"

"Well, I am kind of being pressured to write-"

"Dude!"

" Alright !" Minho burst, raising his hands as if to surrender. "Alright. I'll write it again, christ."

Chan nodded approvingly as Minho ripped another piece of paper to write on. "I'll help you this time."

"Do whatever you want." Minho sighed.

In the end, it took them around ten minutes to get together a note that was not too formal or too casual. It took a lot of whining from Chan and complaining from Minho but at least they finished it.

"' _Whoever you are, you seem to be charming but I can't return your feelings since we haven't met. I hope you understand, Minho'_."

Chan had his chin rubbed between his two fingers thoughtfully. He hummed while his head bopped, the rapid movement making Minho a bit dizzy.

"That's great!" Chan finally concluded, clapping his hands together and apologizing when some of the nearby customers disapprovingly peeked at him. "So you'll just leave that here, right?"

Minho nodded, putting the note and the recorder to the side so they wouldn't distract the two of them any further. "Let's go back to studying,"

"Awww, but we've been going through this again and again!"

"And you still make mistakes. Amazing."


	2. culprit's initials

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minho gets his head in the game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woojin will make his appearance here!!

Monday kicked him right in the guts.

Minho had stayed up all night to go over all that he had reviewed and suffered for it in the morning. He felt worse than he looked. He was cranky, he was sleepy, and he was itching to have some noodles. Not to mention he was surrounded by morons. 

He ducked when papers flew over his head, used to his rowdy classmates.

Beside him, Woojin calmly flipped through his own reviewers. The boy was top of their class and didn't even look like he was trying. That kind of people pissed and impressed Minho who himself needed to spend sleepless nights to stay on top of his game.

Clicking his tongue, he laid his head on his arms with a huff. Woojin's eyes landed on him, a brow questionably raised. When Minho didn't say anything but continued to glare, the other sighed and put down his papers.

"What is it?" The other boy's even voice somehow made Minho more irritated.

"Nothing."

Woojin said nothing. Minho waited for him to prod for more but it didn't come. They stared at each for long seconds before Minho finally gave in with a whine. Woojin was patient and peaceful; he could probably sit around for hours to hear something without a complaint.

"I'm just tired,"

Woojin smiled almost mischievously. "Yeah, you look gross."

"Mind your own business."

Comfortable silence hung over them as Woojin went back to studying and he went back to moping about, their classmates panicked screams permeating through their own little world. In the state that he was in, he expected that he would forget one or two things. He heaved a sigh and tried to gather his thoughts. Maybe he should not have studied with Chan after all. 

Woojin's head snapped towards him, his eyes alight. It caught Minho off guard. Woojin rarely looked like that. The only times he looked like that was when he knew Chanbgin was about to seat on bird shit but kept his mouth shut and when he was about to divulge his knowledge concerning the gastrointestinal tract. Both ended in pretty ugly scenarios. 

A nervous bubble gurgled inside Minho.

"What's up?" He asked, as casually as possible, though it was obvious Woojin had seen past through him. He was unto something. Most probably something to do with a voice recorder and a certain Aussie. 

He would totally kill Chan.

Woojin scooted a bit closer to him, his eyes wide and his lips quirked into a smirk. "Well," He drawled out. "I heard someone got their first confession the other day . . ."

Minho could feel his face heat up.

"Well?" He refused to answer. "Not gonna explain or something?"

He sent another glare to Woojin. "No."

If this got to Changbin - and he was sure it already did - he wouldn't hear the end of it. If Woojin reacted this way then Changbin would go bonkers, tease him and suggest who the voice in the recorder was because the guy had no chill. Minho could already hear his nosy voice. The thought sent chills through him.

Through the corner of his eye, he saw Woojin's mouth forming a word when the door to their room slammed open.

"Take your seats! The exam will start!" His classmates scattered back to their seats. Minho caught a piece of Codigo passing between the students a few seats in front. Absolute bastards.

Woojin kept his reviewers while taking peeps at Minho, sending him a  _ you-will-tell-me-whether-you-like-it-or-not  _ kind of vibe. For the meantime, Minho would bother himself with the exam and not the recorder or the confession or the fact that, even though he abhorred the whole thing, excitement and anticipation streamed through him.

He peeled his eyes away from his hands and took out his pen, checking the papers being passed from row to row.

If Woojin wanted information, he would need to work for it 'cause he sure would not talk.

* * *

All it took for Minho to talk was a bribe of free lunch. He took bite after bite from his rice meal while his friends watched him with delight. 

He was such a sucker for food.

"This whole thing happened last Saturday?" Changbin started, drawing it into a whine. Minho repressed an eye roll while Chan nodded happily - he was getting really sick with bubbly people. " _Shit_! I knew I should have gone with you guys!"

Woojin and Changbin were neighbours. Before even he and Chan asked if they had wanted to come, they had planned to study together in their houses. That left him with a sad puppy who just skimmed through his notes - Minho could barely call Chan’s notes  _ notes _ . It was just random ideas and words put together on a notebook, really.

Minho grumbled as he swallowed down another bite. "You didn't miss anything."

"He's just disappointed that the one crushing on him didn't say their name," Chan explained as if it's the normal thing, leaving Minho to fume alone as his other two friends let out  _ oohs _ and  _ aahs _ of understanding.

"No, I'm not."

Chan raised his head cockily. "Really?"

"Really." He challenged back. They had a staring contest before Chan broke it though Minho could sense he didn't win anything - _yet_.

"Well," Woojin said for the first time since they sat down, his eyes peeked over from the book he was reading. "That aside, I heard these two saying that they wanted to find  _ him _ ." The emphasis made Minho flinch. He was nowhere near making his friends forget this whole . . . whatever it was.

Minho furrowed his brows at the two. They only grinned broadly.

"The hell with that," He snapped, tossing his used chopsticks down in his empty bowl.

Changbin blew a raspberry, to his annoyance. "Yo, just let us have this. It's so boring in this hellhole. Full of heterosexual, hormonal teenagers,"

Chan's face scrunched up comically. "Yuck." He agreed.

He was about to slam dunk the two on the table when the first bell rang. Grumbling, he stood up and kicked the two on the calf instead when they started dancing their victory dance. Why they even had a victory dance, Minho didn't know nor did he wanted to. Being the most sensible out of the group, Woojin ignored the two and stayed by Minho's side. They went ahead.

"You know," Minho looked beside him. Woojin's eyes were locked onto him. Whenever he does that, Minho felt like he was a toddler being babied by an adult. Woojin had that sort of aura. "It's okay if you feel flattered and stuff,"

He puffed and crossed his arms in front of his chest, glaring at the tiled floor beneath them. Woojin always saw right through him. 

"I don't want to. These things are stupid."

There was an odd beat of silence before Woojin said anything.

"Right. But you'd be surprised by how stupidity could bring so much joy," He chuckled. “It’s stupid,”

He said nothing. Not because he didn't like what the other said, but because he didn't know what to say. It was also rare for Woojin to be so bare. He was either a mother hen or bookworm, not the one who was sentimental. Chan occupied that spot proudly in their group. The other's face was murky, unclear what was really happening beneath it all. Woojin was always like that, unreadable, but this time was different. Minho left him with his thoughts as they neared their lockers.

He opened his locker after putting in his pin, ready to grab his books and hurry to their classroom before the last bell rang when an object wrapped in paper caught his eyes. He eyed it warily. Was this a prank? Minho side-eyed Woojin to see if his friends were doing the  _ guess-what-we-found-in-a-dumpster  _ game but didn't see any leak. In any case, Woojin was still in his trance. 

What the hell?

Cautiously, he took in the wrapped object. It felt kind of light and rectangular: was it chocolate? Can't be, none of his friends would waste money on him. Then wha -  _ Wait _ . He felt through the paper. There were bumps and holes here and there. Was it from  _ him _ ? The idea made him stumble and almost bump into someone. Ignoring the person's grumble he bumped into, he hurriedly ripped through the wrapper.

It was another voice recorder, if not the same as before.

Woojin was already hovering beside him when he was back to his senses.

"Another?"

He nodded. He flipped and studied it, both amazed and frightened. Was it from the same person? Maybe this whole thing was just a prank after all. It entered his mind that the whole confession might be a dare or a pass time for a group of friends, which, in all honesty, made his skin tingle with dread. If it was just a prank then the group must really be determined by sending another one.

He hesitated.

"You're not going to listen to it?" Minho knew that his face was a jumble of emotions. Woojin was good at puzzling those emotions. The older gave him a reassuring smile and a slight shrug. "We still have a few minutes,"

Should he? Should he really? He was about to keep away the voice recorder when he caught sight of writing on the paper that wrapped it.

_ H.J. _

Initials? Now they were giving hints? Curiosity overwhelmed him just as suspicion did. His eyes lingered a little longer on the scrawly letters; what's the harm of knowing more?

"Do you have earphones?" Minho asked, adrenaline pumping him up. The footsteps and voices of the crowd were drowned out by a drive in him. It felt exhilarating and exhausting - he had never felt that kind of rush before. He needed to know more.

Woojin took out his earphones from his pocket and handed it over. Minho plugged the thing into the voice recorder and offered the other earphone to Woojin. He was going to dive mud deep into this and he was going to have backup. 

Woojin accepted and they both put the buds in. Minho clicked  _ play _ .

_ "Okay, I think I might have been too straightforward the last time. I must have come off as a creep, sorry. And about that letter you wrote me - let me just say you really have a pretty handwriting, I'm kind of jealous-" _

Woojin snickered while Minho was struck blank as he continued to listen.

_ "I know. I've been -  _ gosh _ , how do I say this without sounding like a total stalker - see, Lee Minho, you've caught my eye. It's . . . it's hard to explain. I can't even explain it to myself but I know that I like you, like really hard, it's unbearable, really. It's like one day I was like 'Okay, that's a guy, aight.' but then the next second all I knew was that I was looking for you, searching for you everywhere. It's weird. This is a first for me and I know it must be really, really weird for you, too. I just . . . I guess, I didn't know what to do with these . . . feelings. So, I ended up spilling it all over you, sorry about that again . . . Yeah. I just thought that you have the right to know that someone liked you or something -  _ thehellamIsaying _ \-  _ yeah _. I guess this is goodbye. Thanks for listening to my rambling." _

Words and thoughts left Minho as he stood there. There was a buzz in his ears and lights in his vision. He didn't know what to do. A hand touched his shoulder, making him shudder and flinch away.

Woojin looked worried, though Minho couldn't fathom a reason why. "Are you okay?"

Behind him, the clock was ticking closer to the final bell before the third set of exams began. Minho had limited time on what to think. Should he just leave it? No note? Let this whole thing go away? What was the right thing to do? But then familiar anger riled him up as realization hit him: the guy didn't even tell him who he was. That coward. How dare he? Was this a way to keep him on his toes? A tactic to keep Minho interested in whatever the hell he was up to? His blood boiled in his veins.

He tore a page from the back of his chemistry book - Woojin yelped beside him then started going crazy about the ruined book - and plucked out his handy pen from his pocket. If this was a game, he would be the one to win.

_ TELL ME WHO YOU ARE _

It was simple and straightforward: it satisfied Minho enough. He wrapped it around the voice recorder like before and chucked it back in his locker; if the guy knew how to put it in then he should know how to take it back out. The paper with the initials found itself inside one the zippers of his bag, crunched and folded for later analyzing. He could feel a grin on his lips.

"Minho! The hell?"

The bell rang right then. He looked back at his locker before advancing forward towards the direction of their classroom.

"Faster, Woojin, or else we'll be late."

He was going to win this game of hide and seek. No matter what it took.


	3. meet hwang hyunjin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang meets a certain gossiper.

The four days of exams went by and the semester break started without _H.J._ making himself known. It infuriated Minho to the point he had finished a box of tea in a week - it had been a long time since he did that, the last time was when he almost failed a subject. His friends were witnesses to this.

"You look like that one dwarf in Snow White," Changbin noted, his head hanging off upside down on Minho's bed. Chan snickered. He opted to ignore them and continued sipping his cup of tea.

His friends were crashing at his house to pester him. They did their own stuff. Chan was composing his new song with Changbin helping here and there while Woojin brought his book and read. Minho? Minho was stuck with his tea and the initials _H.J._

"I think his name was Grumpy," Woojin stated matter of factly at Changbin. 

“That’s his name!”

"I think you guys should shut up so I could think," Minho retorted, rolling his eyes. Woojin hummed in agreement even though he was part of who Minho was talking about. They went back to ignoring each other.

For the past couple of hours, he had been going through their school’s Facebook followers, finding for this _H.J._ guy. He even went through his social media that he rarely used, hoping that one of his followers was _him_. Alas, his luck was down and _H.J._ probably didn't use his real name in the whacked-out world where you could be hacked and baited by princes from foreign countries. Smart.

Chan and Changbin had come in all excited and pumped up to rat this _H.J_ until, and Minho quoted, “their balls fell out”. Woojin had been less enthusiastic than them but he was still in the bandwagon. Minho, as one could imagine, had been adamant of yelling at them whenever they suggested a student or, according to Changbin, a teacher (Minho’s ass was irresistible, he said, to which Chan nodded agreeably). However, as time passed by, all three of them got tired. Whether because they got tired of Minho’s persistence that they were wrong or because they got tired of Changbin screaming his guts out whenever he thought they finally found _H.J.,_ they stopped piling candidates up. Instead, they thought it would be more helpful if they spread and babble about the most useless stuff.

“Hey, who wants to play a Kahoot about vines with me?”

“Sign me the fuck up, sir!”

“Wait, wait, wait - after I’m done reading this chapter,”

Minutes ticked by and Minho was so close to throwing his phone at the wall. He was getting nowhere with what he was doing. Google always brought him to some old looking car, or Hungry Jacks - which was the Burger King of Australia, Chan supplied - _or_ a girl Minho thought might be a professional violinist or the sort. Facebook was absolutely hopeless. It was the same with all the others. Nothing.

He slid down the wall he was leaning on, feeling like a sad sausage thrown against it. He felt defeated. Maybe a little bit buzzed too, with all the tea he had drunk since that morning (5 cups). His situation was not looking good. Still, he did not stop scrolling through the endless accounts.

Chan looked up from his laptop after their Kahoot tournament was won by Woojin. He frowned thoughtfully and said, "I think I know someone who might help you."

This caught Minho's attention immediately.

Changbin snorted and changed his position on the bed to face them both. "You know a plastic surgeon?"

"Excuse you, I have the best face here," He huffed before ignoring the offended look on Changbin. Chan was still looking down at his laptop as if he never spoke. Minho breathed out an exasperated breath. "Chan."

"Hmm, yeah?" 

"You were saying?" He prompted, closing his phone off and averting all his concentration on the boy.

"Ah, yeah. I know someone," Chan closed his laptop with a resounding _thump_ , his fingers drumming on the lid. "You know Hwang Hyunjin?"

Minho blinked. He racked his mind for anything and came up with nothing. Why did Chan expect him to know some person when he could not, _for the life of him_ , seem to remember if he already put sugar in his tea or not. The bitter aftertaste of too much sugar still burned at the back of his throat.

Chan chuckled at Minho's confused silence. "It's alright, don’t overthink, dude. He's a Sophie,"

Minho didn't know what a kid could do to help him given his circumstances. "And so?"

"Wait.” Changbin suddenly butted in from scrolling through his phone. “Did - did you say Hwang Hyunjin?" His face was contorted into a mess as if he was about to pull an Asian Parent smack. He then turned to Minho, looking at him like he was living under a rock. "You seriously don't know him?"

He shook his head. "Am I supposed to?" 

What's up with this Hwang Hyunjin that got Changbin so interested?

Changbin leapt from the bed, startling both Chan and Minho - a little at the corner, he saw Woojin roll his eyes at their dramatic friend. He couldn't blame Woojin for that though. Changbin was really a drama king.

Minho watched as Changbin stomped his way over to where he was sitting on the floor and sat in front of him. It was way too obvious that he had a lot to say about this kid. 

"Dude! He's so popular that it's getting annoying - _urgh!_ That kid really pisses me off!"

Oh. Minho started to get why Changbin was worked up. He smirked. "You're just jealous that he's _oh_ so popular,"

The way redness crept up the other's cheeks was too hilarious. A bubble of laughter burst in Minho which gained numerous kicks from Changbin. Changbin was just too easy to read and tease. He was the best to pick on.

Minho was starting to calm down from his high when Chan added, "Oh, and don't forget to mention, Hwang always has Lee flocking around him."

Before Minho's mind could even process what Chan said, Changbin picked up a stray pencil on the floor and threw it at Chan who let out an overdramatic yelp. Yet another march of laughter bloated in Minho’s chest, rightfully amused at his friend’s jealousy over their junior.

Changbin was crushing hard on Lee Felix. Everyone in their group knew that. Minho had heard from Chan that the two would sometimes go home together since their houses were in the same direction. Minho couldn't count how much the guy had talked about Lee’s cute freckles and smiles - _the cutest out of all_ , Changbin would exclaim. Minho couldn't attest to that since he hadn't had the chance to see the guy. Whenever he would ask for Lee’s picture, Changbin would hug his phone to his chest, his ugly mouth puckered, and he would say, “I don’t want y’all filthy gazes on Felix! Shoo!”

Minho laughed, even more, a finger pointing accusingly at Changbin. Changbin swatted his hand away, hard enough that Minho winced at the stinging sensation soon afterwards. He continued laughing.

"Felix has nothing to do with this!" Changbin yelled, his arms flailing in a frenzy. Despite his statement, he could tell that Felix had _everything_ to do with this Hwang Hyunjin. "Go back to whatever you were saying about that little shi-"

"You know about the _Rumor Has It_ account on twitter?" Chan interrupted. He had crawled all the way to Minho’s side from his spot against the bed’s leg. His face was awfully near and his eyes were wide open, his collarbone against Minho’s shoulder, and his entire body shaking with raw excitement. Changbin, at his other side, was also doing the same thing, though grumpier. He shoved the two boys. 

Minho, not for the first time that day, paused to thought.

Of course. Everyone knew that account. In fact, that was one of the only accounts Minho followed in twitter but didn't update himself anymore after the whole _Principal Soo is with Ms Yoonseong_ thread. He decided the drama was just too much for him. He didn't use twitter much anyways.

He nodded, slapping the hand that snaked up on his legs. Changbin grunted and laid on the floor, his hands reaching up to the ceiling. Minho speculated on how he looked like he was in a romantic movie and gagged at the thought.

Chan twisted so that he sat crossed leg beside Minho. His fingers were intertwining that Minho knew was a sign he was bolted and was trying to hold it back. 

"I heard he's one of the administrators,"

“This Hwang guy?” He asked. Chan nodded.

Whatever Chan was implying, Minho did not piece together. 

"Then?" He huffed, crossing his arms. 

Changbin pinched his nose, saying, “Your breath stinks. Hold it in,” 

Minho jolted his leg quickly, pleased when he saw the other’s eyes moisten, his hands flew to touch his mouth. He bit his lip. Good. He looked back at Chan.

" _Minho!_ " Chan exclaimed, throwing his hands out in an extravagant manner - Changbin was rubbing way too much on him. Or was it Chan rubbing way too much on Changbin? The egg or the chicken question. "That means he knows a lot of things! And to know a lot of things?"

It took a moment for Minho to connect the dots Chan laid out for him. 

"He knows a lot of people..." Realization dawned on him like a piano on the head. His skin prickled with newfound energy. "He . . . he knows a lot of people! I connected the dots!"

"You didn't connect shit," Changbin sighed tiredly, his words hanging off due to his bitten tongue.

" _I connected_ the dots!"

Chan's approving grin gave him even more energy to jump to his feet and throw himself to his bed to bounce on it. "Yeah, you did buddy. You've connected the dots,"

"To be clear, Chan was actually the one who connected the dots," Woojin added, his nose still in his book.

"He didn't connect shit."

He would finally find that sore coward. He would win this game of hide and seek and come out as a victorious winner. Radiant happiness bloomed inside him at the opportunity to look at _H.J._ 's face and see if he looked like his voice - wait. 

He halted from his bouncing spree.

Was he actually looking forward to meeting H.J.? No, no, that couldn't be. He just wanted to finish this whole thing and go back to working on his studies. Yeah. That's why. But what if -

Whatever came up in his head was quickly disturbed by Woojin's muffled scream. It made all three of them look up from what they were doing. The oldest's face was folded in an agonizing way and his eyes were starting to water, to all their surprise.

"Woojin?" Minho started carefully, scared that it would alarm the other. "What's happened?"

The boy's lips were shaking. A couple of seconds passed before his mouth fully opened, "Matthias . . . Matthias died . . ."

There was a pause. Changbin, Chan, and he looked towards each other before exploding into boisterous laughter. Minho was laughing so much that tears were spilling out his eyes and his stomach was starting to get cramps. He knew from the sounds of it the other two were in the same spot as him.

"Guys, guys," Woojin called out weakly. "This is - this is serious . . . I - _hngggh_."

They ignored Woojin's shaky voice and continued laughing.

* * *

It was a quarter to six when they arrived at _Sweet & Mix _cafe. Earlier, Chan had insisted on bringing them there to meet this Hwang guy who, apparently, worked there. It took a while for him to win over Minho, and a lot more for Woojin who was still mourning, but they were there, standing in front of the counter, all looking up to the blazing lights of the hanging menu. 

The cafe had a diner feel to it with the bright luminescent lights and the white floor, shadowed by the growing darkness outside. There were a few people eating. There were a few birds lounging at the flower box outside the cafe. There were _no_ servers to serve them. Ironic.

Minho's foot tapped unconsciously on the floor, impatient. His gaze darted from the rushing workers behind the counter to his phone that reads _6:37_. He wanted to snap at them but held it, though Changbin's nags repeatedly tried to test him.

"Is _wittle_ Minho mad?" Changbin cooed his face in an ugly copy of a crying baby. He was clinging onto Chan in fear that Minho might actually hit him (he was close to when the guy repeatedly slapped his arm).

"Shut up." And to annoy the other more, he added, "Midget."

"You wanna fucking go-"

"Chan hyung!" All their heads snapped towards the counter where someone was behind it. _Finally_. "You're here - wait, wait, _why_ are you here anyway?"

The boy behind the counter was, for the lack of better words, _fucking hot_. He was hot in the way that was unacceptable; who looked attractive wearing pink and green, the epitome of the most horrible combinations? The kid. The kid pulled the colours off.

Woojin nudged him. "Stop looking like a bedazzled idiot,"

Minho blinked then scowled. "And you should stop being such a dad," Not the best retort but his mind was going haywire.

"You know Lee over here?" Chan pushed Minho forward, a disgraceful squawk at the back of his throat. The kid's eyes landed on him conspicuously before he jerked forward on the counter, hands flat on the marble and face near as possible to Minho's.

"Lee Minho, of course! I'm Hyunjin! Really nice to meet you, man." He took Minho's hand and shook it vigorously. "You're part of the dance team, yeah? Heard you guys won last year, almost reached nationals if not for that one slip up. I'm planning on joining next year or maybe next term - oh, I should shut up." The kid had the decency to look embarrassed at that last note.

He was all over the place much like Changbin, but in a friendly way whereas the former was a dick. Though the enthusiasm was much appreciated, Minho's life was filled with too many cheery people, as mentioned before. He managed a crooked smile.

"Uh . . . yeah," Minho said unsurely. He glanced at Chan who only offered a shrug.

"He's looking for someone," Changbin said shortly. "You gonna help or what."

Hyunjin squinted at him. Minho was expecting him to point out that he was being a jerk, but he snapped his fingers, eyes wide with recognition instead. "You're Felix's friend, Seo Changbin! I knew you looked familiar! Actually, you bunch hang out near the entrance to the canteen so I see you guys a lot. Weird."

“Spooky,” Changbin added. He was, of course, the mastermind behind their place in the canteen to see his ‘precious Felix’.

"I'm Woojin by the way," The said boy stretched out a hand which the other happily shook. "Kim Woojin,"

"Ah, the chorale's senior leader, right?" Woojin seemed to buff up with pride and nodded. "Man, I heard you singing for last year's sports fest and let me just say you sound absolutely amazing!"

"Thank you," Woojin had a big smile, and Minho applauded Hyunjin's way of flattering people. Actually, when he carefully thought about it, he was pretty sure the kid wasn't really trying.

Hyunjin swivelled, facing Changbin, his face lit up as if a realization struck him. “You know what, Lix has been talking about you a lot lately. He told me about that new song you’re making! How is that going for you?”

Oh, man.

Beside Chan, Changbin curled into himself and blushed disgustingly. Minho gagged as the other asked like a middle schooler, "Felix . . . he talks about me?" 

Hyunjin nodded like a puppy and Changbin grinned.

"Is he stupid?" Minho whispered to Woojin.

"Don't diagnose people," Woojin reminded him. He turned to Hyunjin, polite. "Can you help?"

"Sure! My shift is almost over, wait for me - is that alright?" They all nodded to which the other grinned. "Good! While you guys are at it, wanna have some food to munch on? Yeah? Great! I'll give you guys a discount!"

"Awesome!" Chan cheered back, already taking the menu on the counter. They had eaten dinner earlier but Chan was too much of a good guy to decline. Minho rolled his eyes at it.

They gave their orders to Hyunjin and went to pick a table, promising to leave a seat for the younger. After a while, another server came and placed their food on their table, and Minho could not, for the love of Christ, understand how Changbin had room for all that food. 

“Soooo,” Woojin drawled out, his lips touching his milkshake’s paper straw. Minho found the action endearing, childish even, and decided to subtly take a picture of it. If he showed that to Chan or Changbin, there was no doubt that the prospect of making their wallpaper would be brought up. Good blackmail stuff. “Hyunjin huh? He’s very…”

“Helpful!”

“Good. At getting on my fucking nerves, I mean. He’s a fucking professional at that,”

 _Attractive._ Minho thought but kept his mouth shut to save himself from further embarrassment. 

“Changbin!” Chan gasped, looking like a disappointed father. He was not far from being just that when it came to Changbin. “Don’t talk about Hyunjin like that! He’s a good kid,”

“I’m gonna bet my whole ass that he helped you at picking up your stuff when they fell and that’s when you established that Mr Hwang over there was the _befallen saviour_ ,”

Chan held a finger, paused, then closed his hand into a fist. “Whether that happened or not, we should not talk about anyone like that!”

“Minho’s keeping quiet ‘cause he thought that Hyunjin was smoking hot,” Woojin, unhelpfully, piped in. Chan burst into a gale of laughter while Changbin mimicked someone vomiting and while on the process of that, successfully choked on his own saliva. This made Chan louder and more aggressive, resorting to slapping the table until the salt and pepper shakers were rattling violently.

Minho groaned. Well, there goes his strategic plan of shutting up so that the gay would be unnoticed. “Woojin. Really.”

Woojin shrugged, passing a napkin to Changbin who had spit all over his chin and hands. The table was still experiencing an earthquake due to Chan. Minho raised his middle finger up and pulled out his earphones and decided it was better to scroll senselessly through Youtube than to witness his idiotic friends die and kill each other in the most ridiculous ways.

His homepage was majorly filled with cat and dance videos, the former being his favourite to go to when he was bored. However, his recommendations was a weird assortment of crack videos ( _“clean vines you can show to your church pastor”_ “ _TikToks that butter my toast” “the whole bee movie but each time a bee appears it gets faster”_ ) but Minho always found himself swiping. It was concerning, really.

Though there were some that tempted him to watch it, he thought it was better to add everything to his worryingly increasing watch later playlist, and - surprise, surprise - watch it later. At least he was able to stumble on some cool looking cover songs, more cat videos, and a video that showed how to cook eggs in 59 different ways. 

When Changbin was on his third serving of the lasagna, Hyunjin swept in. Minho almost thanked him when Changbin stopped his squelching slurping to glare.

"So-" Hyunjin started, sitting down with them, appropriately interested. He was out of his pastel green and pink uniform and was in his casual clothes, dazzling Minho once again. Damn. "-who are we looking for?"

"We're not really sure but he left some clues." Minho slid the paper with H.J. written on it. He mentally slapped himself from his flying thoughts.

"So we know it's a he and that his initials are H and J - though that doesn't really help us since a lot of people have H and J in our school," Hyunjin said solemnly, but after a beat, threw them a thumbs up, painstakingly optimistic. "But I'll try. Do you guys have any other clues? Ideas?"

Though he was tempted to tell the other that H.J. had a voice, he held that back. It was embarrassing once he thought about it, the whole confession speech - he didn't know if _he_ was embarrassed or if he was embarrassed _for_ H.J. And besides, he didn't have a record of H.J.'s voice. That was his fault for being hasty.

"No-" Minho started but Changbin cut him off.

"He left a recorder."

Hyunjin raised a brow. "Video recorder?"

"No," Changbin said slowly, irritated. "A _voice_ recorder. If he had left a video recorder then that shit would be both rich and exposed."

"Don't call H.J. shit, you midget."

"To be exact, it was a Sony voice recorder," Woojin added. Everyone gave him a look. "What? It's the logo - don't tell me you guys haven't noticed?"

"Nope," Chan chirped.

"I haven't seen it."

Woojin deflated. "Well then,"

Hyunjin looked hopefully at Minho, reaching out to hold his hands. Minho was squeamish when he did so and tried to subtly move away; the other had a scary fire in his eyes. "It would really help if I could hear it,"

"Uhh," He stuttered. "It's too . . . confidential?"

"It's a confession."

"Changbin!"

"What? It's not like the kid would spread it around," Changbin gave the other a pointed stare. "Are you?"

"Guys," Chan interjected. "Hyunjin's here to help. I'm sure he won't tell this to anybody - he's not that kind of person. I know him."

"Thanks, hyung." Hyunjin sighed, letting Minho go and slumping on his chair. "But it's okay if you're not comfortable sharing it with me."

It was obvious that he really wanted to know more. Minho, for a flitting second, was also disappointed because if Hyunjin knew a lot of people, he might have recognized H.J.'s voice.

"It's not like I could show it to you anyways," Minho said, huffing. He fingered with the hem of his jacket sleeve.

"What do you mean?"

"He did not leave it, exactly. He-"

"He left it and then when Minho over here left a message, he got the recorder too."

"Changbin, I swear to god if you interrupt me one more time."

Hyunjin's mouth was slightly ajar, impressed written all over his face. "Oh," His eyes sparkled with newfound intensity. " _Oh_. That's interesting. So he leaves the recorder somewhere then you listen to it then leave a what? A written message, yeah? You also leave the recorder behind so that he could get it back. Wow. That's something. Really."

Minho was half astounded and half scared at the other's impeccable deductions skills. If he was in Hyunjin’s place, he wouldn’t even get half of the mumbo-jumbo that Changbin spat out.

"I could feel him shaking," Woojin commented warily.

Chan waved a nonchalant hand. "Leave him be. Drama fuels this kid,"

Hyunjin leaned in, a joyous light on his face. "You, Lee, have my full support,"

Minho blushed and Changbin snickered. How could this kid be so open? He either pushed Minho to blush or punch him - or maybe punch him while blushing, that was the aura the kid gave off.

"So you can really help?" Minho asked hesitantly. He might be jumping to conclusions after all. No one liked being given a love task - heck, if Minho was in Hyunjin's position, he would slam himself down.

Hyunjin blew a raspberry. "Dude, _seriously_ , I'm the best at this. It's been a pretty long time since I handled this whole _help-me-find-this-person_ charade but I know I could crack this," He winked. "Trust me. You'll have a man in no time."

"Did he just really say that,"

"Changbin you're being mean."

"Only kindergartens use the word mean, Chan."

"That's hyung for you."

"Fuck off."

"Language," Woojin said while frowning at Changbin. "Stop cursing. It sounds horrible."

Changbin argued while Chan supported Woojin. Minho gave Hyunjin, who had a bemused smile, a tired one. If only he was strong enough to chuck the three out, he would have, but he wasn't even strong enough to chuck out his exhaustion and sins.

"Thanks, man." He said to Hyunjin, genuinely grateful.

Hyunjin seemed to recall something before halfheartedly chuckling, "No problem,"

There was something going on with him, Minho thought. But if there really was, he left it alone for the kid to sort out - it wasn't like they were suddenly best friends or something. He continued drinking his strawberry milkshake and shivered at the coldness. It was time to catch that H.J.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i- guys- this has 200 hits??? that is way more than i expected woaahh,, thank you all!!! :))
> 
> i'm going to try to post more since i'm on break from school!! yeheyy! 
> 
> that's it! i hope you guys take care of yourselves!! mwaa


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